We know that domestic violence can happen to anyone. We know that many ASU members will have a direct experience of domestic violence or will have worked with those affected by domestic violence.

1. Paid domestic violence leave is an important universal right all workers should have access to. We know that women have been murdered on the way to or from work because when they try to leave an unsafe home the perpetrator of violence knows where they work.

Women need to know that their workplace has a commitment to supporting them through paid leave to speak out, seek help and take action if they are affected by domestic violence. Economic dependency traps people in violent relationships.

This important workplace right will save lives.

2. The provision of timely, effective and expert non-judgemental support for women experiencing violence can make all the difference to whether a woman successfully rebuilds her life and achieves safety.

This means quality support from a range of services must be available - in particular specialist women-led women’s services. Recent funding cuts at all levels of government have had a dramatic effect on women-led women’s services.

We need all governments to come together and provide a new national funding agreement to fill the urgent gaps in service delivery, provide genuine holistic care and support for women, and ensure that women-led women’s services are sustainable into the future.

Our members ensure that ours is a civil society, where we protect the vulnerable, where everyone can participate in and be part of our community. We are advocates, support workers, case workers, carers, trainers, coordinators, counsellors, and administrative support.

We work across NSW and the ACT in small services, to large organisation like House With No Steps, St Vincent de Paul, Lifestyle Solutions, LiveBetter, Flourish and Life Without Barriers.

All members in community and disability services are automatically members of the Australian College of Community and Disability Practitioners (the ACCDP) that your union has established to give workers a stronger voice in setting the professional standards in our sector.

A few years ago ASU members overwhelmingly voted to support marriage equality, but we must fight for equality with dignity and not have to have a divisive plebiscite that will create unsafe workplaces for LGBTIQ workers.

Not only is a plebiscite a waste of money (money that could be spent on other things like homelessness or domestic violence services) but it will also foster harmful and hurtful debate that could cost lives.

Around the country members at Mission Australia are currently voting to endorse a new enterprise agreement that will see considerable improvements in wages and conditions at Mission Australia. This is after months of successful campaigning by members in their workplaces to send a strong message to Mission Australia management that ASU members want to be treated with respect and have improvements in their conditions at work.